Keefus Ciancia

Keefus Ciancia is an Emmy-nominated American film and television composer, music producer, and musician. He has won an Ivor Novello Award, BAFTA, and BMI Film & TV Award and composed and produced music for True Detective, Killing Eve, London Spy, The Fall, and Spider-Man 2, among others.

He has produced albums for such artists as Benji Hughes, Kimbra, Everlast, A Fine Frenzy, and Étienne Daho. As a keyboardist and pianist he has performed with Elton John, Mike Patton, Iggy Pop, T Bone Burnett, Everlast, and others.[10] Ciancia has worked extensively with T Bone Burnett as a film and TV composer, co-producer, and as a band member of The Invisible Light.[11][12][13] He is currently a member of musical groups, Unloved, Vincent & Mr. Green, and The Invisible Light.[14][15]

Ciancia was born in Denver, Colorado. He played classical piano as child and as a teenager played in various bands as well as in his high school band. His band teacher sent a musical piece that Ciancia composed to various colleges and he was awarded scholarships to University of North Texas and USC. After moving to Los Angeles in the early 1990s Ciancia began working as a hip-hop session musician, recording with Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, South Central Cartel, and E-40.[16] During that same period, he began working with Lonnie Marshall and they formed the band, Weapon of Choice.[17]

Ciancia is a multi-instrumentalist, film and television composer, music producer, and recording artist. He has composed music for TV series, True Detective, which earned him an Emmy nomination, as well as winning a BAFTA Award for composing music for the TV series Killing Eve, and an Ivor Novello Award for his music in London Spy, among other awards. Ciancia produced the Emmy award-winning theme song for the TV series, Saving Grace, titled, Saving Grace by Everlast.

He has worked on numerous recording projects with T Bone Burnett dating back to 1997 when Burnett heard Ciancia's music on a local radio station (KRCW) in Los Angeles and began a working relationship with him as a session musician[18][19] Ciancia co-produced and co-composed music on The Ladykillers, the HBO series True Detective, and others.[20] He teamed up with Burnett as an artist on The Invisible Light - Spells, and The Invisible Light: Acoustic Space.

He also co-produced and co-wrote Sleeping Tapes with Jeff Bridges.[21][22][23]

Ciancia has performed live with Elton John, Mike Patton, Iggy Pop, T Bone Burnett, Everlast, and others and has produced albums for such artists as Kimbra (Vows, The Golden Echo), Everlast, Nikka Costa (Pro Whoa), Cassandra Wilson (Thunderbird, Closer to You: The Pop Side), and Unloved, among others.

Ciancia was a keyboardist and co-producer for Everlast (1998 - 2007)) whom he toured with extensively and recorded on albums, Whitey Ford Sings the Blues, Eat at Whitey's, and White Trash Beautiful. He later co-produced Love, War and the Ghost of Whitey Ford as well as producing Everlast's Emmy Award-winning theme song, Saving Grace, for the TV series, Saving Grace.

He has been a member of musical groups, The Invisible Light, Unloved, Vincent & Mr. Green, The Jade Vincent Experiment, and Weapon of Choice.

Ciancia teamed up with T Bone Burnett on albums, The Invisible Light - Spells, and The Invisible Light: Acoustic Space.[24][25][26][27]

Unloved was formed in 2013 in Los Angeles and is composed of Jade Vincent, Keefus Green (Ciancia), and David Holmes. Holmes met Ciancia and Vincent during the time when the duo had started a regular Tuesday night residency at The Rotary Room in Los Feliz. The band has released four albums – 2016’s Guilty of Love, 2019’s Heartbreak, 2022’s The Pink Album, and 2023's Polychrome and Killing Eve'r Ode To The Lovers (Killing Eve Unloved release soundtrack, season 1,2,3, & 4).[28][29][30]

Singer-songwriter, Jade Vincent and Ciancia formed Vincent & Mr. Green as an offshoot of their first musical project, The Jade Vincent Experiment, an experimental, film-noir band who played the Los Angeles club scene in the mid to late 1990s.[31][32][33] They have been collaborating since 1993. Film credits for the duo include True Detective, Killing Eve, Baby Driver, and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.[34] They have released two albums as Vincent & Mr. Green, 2004's Vincent & Mr. Green and 2010's Smash Up and one album, 1998's Moy, as The Jade Vincent Experiment.

Keefus Ciancia was a founding member of Weapon of Choice, in 1992. They played a mixture of experimental, rock, alternative, funk, hip hop, jazz and reggae, which frontman Lonnie Marshall dubbed, Nutmeg. The group shared the stage with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane's Addiction, Fishbone, and the P-Funk All Stars, among others, and were known for selling out venues in Seattle.[35] Ciancia recorded four albums with the band, Nut-Meg Sez "Bozo the Town" (1994), Highperspice (1996), Nutmeg Phantasy (1998), Color Me Funky (2004).[36][37]